The Importance of Awareness

Sidney Dent

The Importance of Awareness

A few years ago, a little bit after I had gotten my license, I was driving my sister to a birthday party. We were enjoying ourselves; I had Jim Gaffigan comedy bits playing in the background. I slowed down to make a left turn, and without realizing it was there, I turned directly into another car. Luckily, no one was majorly injured, though my arm did get burned from the air bag. Though that particular situation wasn’t deadly, it serves to remind me of how awareness is the most important thing when driving.

It’s hard to focus on being aware about everything around you, especially when you may drive the same route every day. However, that awareness may keep you alive and save another person at the same time. After the accident, I watched many videos on different ways that can inhibit your ability to drive. One of the ways stuck with me because I had never really thought about it before that point. The mentality of the driver impacts what they pay attention to and what decisions they make. Not only is it important to be aware of your surroundings but also to be aware of your mental state. It is important to be neutral in your mind because any strong emotion can impair your ability to notice the details around you.

This accident changed a lot of my life; it is traumatizing to be involved in something like that, even when no one is seriously harmed. I drive now, and I still enjoy driving, but any time I make a turn or have to cross a road, I am a hundred times more conscious of everything because I am terrified of something like that happening again. I hope that through encouragement, other people who have not had an experience like that will understand the graveness of the situation and be able to implement focus more fully into their driving to prevent themselves from crashing.